A playroom all of their own is every kid’s dream, so when five-year-old Karissa Gouros was told she could have the new attic at her place she was thrilled.

Measuring 7.8 x 2.4 metres with a sloping ceiling, the attic is a good size for storing all her toys and books, with plenty of space left over for playing games solo or with friends.

Part of a second-storey addition to the house, the plasterboard walls and ceiling needed to be sealed and painted and a floor had to be laid.

Karissa wanted a bright, fun colour for the walls which meant the flooring couldn’t be dull or neutral. Her mum just wanted something easy to clean.

The best floor

For a low-maintenance floor that lasts years, vinyl is ideal. It is comfortable underfoot, comes in a big range of patterns and is quick to DIY.

Instead of sheet vinyl, large-format self-adhesive tiles were chosen for the attic to make the room look bigger.

To create a designer look for the attic playroom that won’t date, marbled black and white tiles were laid in a chequerboard pattern.

At 45.7cm square, the tiles add depth to the long, skinny space.

Winton Tiles, from Ideal DIY Floors cost about $4 each, and also come in cartons of 16 for about $71.

To cover the almost 19 square metre attic, and factoring in an extra 10% for cutting and wastage, four cartons of each colour were bought.

To lay the floor, the particleboard was sealed with Bondcrete, about $20, then the self-adhesivetiles laid directly on top.

This article originally appeared in the May 2014 edition of Australian Handyman magazine